PBL Course 03 - Blog 02 - Smith, Robert

Standards-Based Assessment in PBL

I have really been looking at assessments lately. I am supposed to be engaging my learners in these engaging, energetic, real-world experiences that require them to apply what they have learned and prepare them for their futures. Unfortunately, after almost two decades in the business, creating and aligning these types of learning experiences with the prescribed, standards-based grading scale is tough. And time consuming.

After doing a lot of academic research, reading of other educators’ blog posts, and my personal anecdotal experiences, I have compiled a list of tips for other people who, like me, want to provide these great learning opportunities for their students, but sometimes get stuck.

TIP 1: Make your learning scale straight from the standards.

In my school, I have a lot of creative freedom. Actually, in every school I have been in, I have had a lot of academic freedom. Sometimes, that did not work out really well. But, most of the time, I am able to pull off some incredible classes. However, the lessons that I teach, stories that I tell, and projects that I write are based off my curricular standards. I use them like a check list. Then, I ask myself how learners’ performances match up with the requirements of my standards. It takes a lot of practice, but I can read the results much better. I am not advocating reinventing anything, by the way. If you use premade assessments, and many of us do, then go through the assessments first and align them with the specific standards. Maintain a check-off list with the standard and the student. You can accomplish the same thing.

TIP 2: Level your assessments based on you learning scale.

Whether or not you use premade assessments or write your own, you can still level them based on learning goals. For instance, many teachers assign point totals to the questions on their assessments. Harder questions are worth more points. The same concept applies to leveling your assessments. Tougher questions require deeper understanding of the material. We would normally weight these questions higher, so we should have them leveled higher as well.

TIP 3: Level your assessments to accommodate PBL requirements.

Since PBL is still new to me, this has been tough. However, I have found out that I should not lump individual assessments with a group grade. Those assessments intended for an individual grade should be separated from group projects. Learners need to be made aware of this difference before beginning the project. This will (hopefully) help those who like to sit back and coast to become more aware of their individual responsibilities to their grade. For group grades, I have boiled them down to a “Yes” or “No” grade. The work was either completed, and on time, or it was not. In other words, students must still do and present all parts of the project, but it does not count for or against their grade. If projects are not completed on time, they are still required to present what they were able to complete.

In conclusion, all of my grades are completely leveled to learning goals and standards. I do use premade assessments, but I level them first. When it comes to projects, learners receive general group grades but the majority of their assessments are designed to be completed on their own so that I can get a good picture of what they know and understand and where I need to focus for future assignments.